Minnesota brewery guide: 46 carry on state's rich history

In 2011, the Minnesota Legislature passed a law that allowed craft breweries to serve and sell their beer on premises. That change has resulted in an absolute boom in the craft brewing industry in the state.

But in the midst of that boom, it's easy to forget the state's rich brewing past. Historic brewery sites -- from Hamm's to Grain Belt to Schmidt to hundreds of tiny operations -- still exist across the state.

Today's craft brewers are merely picking up where their ancestors left off, albeit making beer for a new generation. Here's a listing of all the registered breweries in Minnesota. It's a growing list, so drink up to find your favorite.

612 Brew

This brewery in the heart of Northeast Minneapolis boasts a big, stylish taproom with a mural, a shuffleboard table and a nice patio. Started by buddies who used to homebrew, their stable of beers ranges from Rated R, a super-hoppy IPA, to Six, a mild American Pale.

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August Schell Brewing Company

Founded in 1860, Schell's is one of the oldest breweries in the country. Six generations later, the Schell family is still churning out traditional German beers, including its exciting new series of Pilsner, brewed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the brewery's first foray into an American favorite. After a recent law change, Schell's brews few enough barrels to be considered a craft brewery, and those who know beer know the Schells are definitely craftsmen.

Bad Weather Brewing

This small brewery shares space with Lucid and Badger Hill. They all use the same equipment in rotation. There's no taproom at the space, but all three have a decent presence at local bars, restaurants and liquor stores. Bad Weather has just one year-round beer, Windvane, a hoppy red ale, but rotates through frequent seasonal changes.

Badger Hill Brewing

Brothers Broc and Brent Krekelberg and Broc's wife Britt run this brewery, which brews an award-winning Extra Special Bitter (Minnesota Special Bitter) and a line of others that are widely available in the Twin Cities.

Bang Brewing

This brewery, run by husband and wife team Sandy and Jay Boss Febbo, is housed in a former grain silo in an industrial area of St. Paul. The emphasis here is on organic ingredients and a sustainable production model. Many of the building supplies for the brewery came from reclaimed materials too.

Bauhaus Brew Labs

Bauhaus isn't open yet, but its website describes the brewery as "a family of musicians, scientists, artists and above all, beer lovers, aiming to reinvigorate the spirit of the family brewery." The beer offerings will be largely re-imagined German styles.

Bent Brewstillery (Merged with Pour Decisions Brewing Company)

This relative newcomer merged with Pour Decisions Brewery and the company, which will eventually distill hard liquor, too, now resides in the former Pour Decisions space. In addition to brewer Kristen England's session beers with a historic-recipe bent, the brewery has added owner Bartley Blume's intensely flavored and geekily named Dark Fatha Emperial Stout and Nordic Blonde Ale. The taproom is undergoing renovations and will reopen in June.

Bent Paddle Brewing Company

Two couples -- which include a former brewer from Barley John's in New Brighton and another from Rock Bottom Brewery -- started this brewery in Duluth's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Their lineup of beers includes a low-IBU extra special bitter and a cold-press black ale. Find it in a few bars and liquor stores in the Twin Cities.

Big Wood Brewery

Three friends started this suburban brewery with the cheeky name. The beers, including a coffee stout called Morning Wood, are widely available in the Twin Cities. The taproom, located in downtown White Bear Lake, opened recently.

Boom Island Brewing Company

Owners Kevin and Qiuxia Welch are both French horn players who moved here because of the classical music scene. Kevin Welch, though, found another craft to be passionate about -- brewing beer, particularly Belgian beer. The complex brews are available in 24-ounce corked bottles in liquor stores and on tap in select Twin Cities restaurants.

Borealis Fermentery

Located on Lake Superior, this tiny brewery produces creative, complex Belgian beers out of a little hand-built, hay-insulated building. Their beers are not very widely available yet, so if you see them somewhere, be sure to give it a try.

Brau Brothers Brewing Company

Formerly located in Lucan, Minn., Brau Brothers recently moved to Marshall, Minn., where an expanded brewery and taproom includes a full-service restaurant. Serving a limited menu of appetizers and sandwiches, it's the only brewery in the state to boast on-site food service. Beers include the smoky, rich and creamy Moo Joos and a fantastic wheat beer, White Cap. Many of their beers are widely available in the Twin Cities.

Burning Brothers Brewing

Minnesota's first gluten-free brewery was started by a couple of fire eaters, hence the name. One of the partners has Celiac disease and was looking for a good beer he could drink. When he didn't find one, he and his buddy decided to make one. The taproom near Hamline University opened recently.

Castle Danger Brewery

Husband and wife team Clint and Jamie MacFarlane run this resort/brewery combo. The brewery, which makes a wide range of beer styles, is situated on the grounds of Castle Haven Cabins, which are rental cabins near Two Harbors, Minn., on the shore of Lake Superior. There's not a taproom, but they do sell growlers, and the beer is widely available on the North Shore.

Dangerous Man Brewing Company

It's worth a trip to this Northeast Minneapolis brewery's taproom, because that's the only place you can get their beer. Owner Rob Miller makes many small-batch creative beers, including a chocolate milk stout that actually tastes like chocolate milk.

ENKI Brewing Company

This brewery on the far Western edge of the Twin Cities has a taproom on the shores of Steiger Lake and is named after the Sumerian god of running water. Pals and co-owners John Hayes and Dan Norton met working for NIKE in the early-80s, and in 2012 they embarked on their longtime dream of opening a brewery. Find their beers at a few local restaurants and liquor stores, mostly in the West Metro.

Excelsior Brewing Company

Located in the heart of downtown Excelsior, the taproom at Excelsior Brewing is usually boisterously full of locals enjoying a glass of suds and maybe playing a board game. Run by a former marketing professional, their beers, which are widely available in the West Metro and a few places east of the river, are balanced easy-drinkers.

Flat Earth Brewing

Flat Earth is in the process of moving into the old Hamm's Brewing site near Payne and Minnehaha avenues from their former spot off West Seventh Street. The new site, in a cool old building in a complex with 11 Wells Distillery and Urban Organics greens and fish growing operation, will have a taproom that will eventually sport a patio. Flat Earth brews a stable of bold beers, including Northwest Passage IPA, which they claim is the hoppiest beer in the Midwest.

Fulton Brewery

Three friends who started brewing in their Minneapolis garage started this Warehouse District brewery. The taproom is walking distance from Target Field and gets startlingly crowded when the Twins play. But if you can score a spot on the patio, it's the perfect place to wash down a pint of easy-drinking Lonely Blonde or a hoppy, floral and balanced Sweet Child of Vine before heading to the ballpark. The beer is widely available at Twin Cities restaurants, bars and liquor stores.

HammerHeart Brewing Company

Brothers-in-law Nathaniel Chapman and Austin Lunn started this suburban outpost brewery, which focuses on experimental beer. Lunn apprenticed at a small experimental brewery in Norway and Hammerheart's beer shows lots of creative flair and the varieties sport Norwegian names. Their beer -- the best of which is smoked, peated or barrel-aged -- is complex, good for sipping on a cold winter night, and available only in their taproom.

Harriet Brewing Company

A laid-off engineer started this brewery, which specializes in Belgian and German beer styles, in his garage. The taproom just off Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue is a hip and funky art gallery/live music destination that draws people from the neighborhood and beyond. We love Divine Oculust, a dangerously smooth and potent golden strong ale.

Hayes' Public House Brewery & Taproom

Located on the shores of Buffalo Lake, this brewery was started by homebrewer Andy Hayes. The brewery offers just a few beers right now, drawn from Hayes' Scottish and Irish heritage -- a pale ale, an Irish stout and an Irish red.

Indeed Brewing Company

Three college friends (two of whom are former Pioneer Press employees) started Indeed at just the right time -- the craft beer industry was booming and the taproom laws had just changed. Theirs was one of the first taprooms in the state and its laid-back, neighborhood bar vibe has helped continue to make it a draw in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. Their flagship beers -- a pale and a black ale -- are super hoppy, but their seasonal options tend to be more balanced and nuanced. Our favorite seasonal is the pumpkin-beer stand-in, a sweet potato beer called Sweet Yamma Jamma.

Junkyard Brewing Company

They call themselves a nanobrewery, because brothers Aaron and Dan Juhnke brew beer in 50-gallon batches in a stainless steel brewing system they built themselves. The beers are on tap in a few Fargo-Moorhead restaurants and in their taproom.

Kinney Creek Brewery

Billing themselves as the first brewery in Rochester since Prohibition, this operation in a former pawn shop uses local ingredients wherever possible. The beer is available in the taproom and at Rochester-area liquor stores.

Lake Superior Brewing Company

Lake Superior started as a homebrewing supply store/brewery in 1994 and remains one of the few northern Minnesota craft brewers. Find the beer, particularly the perfect-on-a-summer-day Kayak Kolsch, in some Twin Cities liquor stores.

Leech Lake Brewing Company

The motto for this brewery in the middle of a national forest near Leech Lake is "Because Paradise Requires a Brewery." The beers are available at the taproom and liquor stores and restaurants in the Walker area.

Lift Bridge Brewing Company

This Stillwater brewery, which has been around longer (since 2008) than many of the state's craft beer makers, started in the basement of founder Brad Glynn. The current home in a former gymnastics gym sports an always buzzing taproom that's host to many community events.

Lucid Brewing

Two self-described "hard-core homebrewing and craft beer aficionados," Jon Messier and Eric Biermann, left the corporate world to start this Minnetonka brewery in 2011. They don't have a taproom, but their beer is widely available in the Twin Cities. Air, a light and lively session beer, is one of our summer favorites.

Mankato Brewery

Co-founder and homebrewer Tim Tupy's great-great-great grandpa Albert Minar Sr. started the first brewery in New Prague in 1884. More than 125 years later, Tupy and Tony Feuchtenberger started their own brewery. There's a taproom, and the beer is also widely available in the Mankato and Twin Cities' area.

The Mantorville Brewing Company was founded in 1996 by six local homebrewers. In 1997, Minnesota beer business veteran Tod Fyten (former Leinenkugel's rep and James Page marketing executive) was taken on as a partner. In 2002, Fyten purchased the brewery outright from the remaining partners.

Sociable Cider Werks

Craft brewing doesn't just apply to beer -- this little cider producer makes artisanal dry ciders, all of which happen to be gluten free or gluten removed. They have a taproom, too, that hosts live music on Thursdays.

Steel Toe Brewing

Homebrewer Jason Schoneman couldn't shake his dream of opening his own brewery, so he worked for a brewery in Montana for a while, then went to brewing school in Chicago and worked for another brewery in Oregon. When he returned, he started making balanced, flavorful beers that are available mostly in the west metro and at the brewery's taproom.

Summit Brewing Company

When Summit owner Mark Stutrud started inquiring about opening a brewery in the early 1980s, the Brewer's Association of America sent him a discouraging letter, saying it would be a "long and hard road." Stutrud, who was way ahead of the craft brewing trend, soldiered on, bringing the Twin Cities what would become the area's most popular beers, including the iconic and tasty Extra Pale Ale. The brewery doesn't rest on its laurels, either, and is constantly churning out experimental and limited edition beers.

Surly Brewing Company

You could say that this is the brewery that started it all. Known for its bitter, hoppy beer that comes in tall-boy cans, Surly's owners pushed for a bill to allow taprooms where patrons could grab a pint of beer at a brewery. Most of the companies listed here were started after the "Surly Bill" became law. The Surly "destination brewery" is still under construction near the border of Minneapolis and St. Paul, just off the new light-rail line.

Sisyphus Brewing

With plans to open this spring, this Loring Park brewery is run by a husband-and-wife team. The brewery will feature a 100-seat taproom and a 100-seat theater that will be home to "live podcasts, comedy and music." The husband of the team, Sam Harriman, is a stand-up comedian.

Third Street Brewhouse

The former Cold Spring Brewing company shed its mediocre mass-produced beer, hired some former Summit, Rock Bottom and Town Hall employees and started brewing good beer. Oh, and it changed its name to Third Street Brewhouse. Widely available throughout Minnesota.

Tin Whiskers

This brand-spanking-new brewery opened May 16. Three engineer pals decided to take their passion for brewing to the next level and open a brewery in the downtown St. Paul Rossmor building. It's the only brewery in either downtown at the moment, and the gigantic windows give it an urban warehouse-space type feel.

Urban Growler

The first woman-owned brewery in the state, Urban Growler is under construction near Bang Brewing in an industrial park near Minnesota 280 in St. Paul. Deb Loch and her partner Jill Pavlak are planning balanced beer using local ingredients and a taproom that will eventually serve food.

Vine Park Brewing Company

While Vine Park operates mostly as a brew-on-premises site for homebrewers (you can use their space to brew and store beer as it ferments), they do sell growlers of a rotating list of beer made in the owners' all-grain brewing system.

Wenonah Brewing Company

4065 Sixth St., Goodview, 507-429-0730

Three former homebrewers started this brewery about two hours south of the Twin Cities near Winona, Minn. They don't have a website, but they do have a Facebook page and a taproom.